The Affair of the Barrage Balloons
The Affair of the Barrage Balloons was a short story written by W. E. Johns which was first published in 20 Story Magazine in April 1940. The story was subsequently gathered and published as the fifth story in the anthology Dr. Vane Answers the Call by Latimer House in November 1950. In the anthology, this story is preceded by The Affair at Daneholt Castle and followed by The Affair of the Blonde in Blue. Synopsis Dr Vane investigates strange cases where barrage balloons periodically break away. Plot (may contain spoilers - click on expand to read) Dr Vane shows Major Ludlow two groups of barrage balloons and bets with him that the one to the left would shortly lose two balloons. Major Ludlow loses the bet and Vane explains. He had observed certain patterns in barrage balloons breaking away. Balloons broke away only during a westerly wind. Two balloons never broke away from the same winch. Cables always broke near the balloon rather than lower down, allowing the balloons to drift further without the weight of the dangling cable. Vane concludes that the breakages must be due to human agency. Balloons were expensive and used a lot of rubber, It could be that a hostile power, not richly endowed with rubber, might find it helpful to avail itself of breakaway British balloons. Vane plans a trap. At the next westerly wind, he and Ludlow dress up as aircraftsmen and station themselves at a winch at Streatham where he predicted the next balloon breakaway might be. Nearby, Ludlow had arranged for a police car with four plain clothes detectives. Ludlow and Vane wait a long while but nothing happens. Their vigil is interrupted, much to Ludlow's annoyance, by a phone call from the Air Ministry announcing that one Air Commodore Carbrook wishes to inspect the balloon. The Air Commodore arrives and he asks the crew to winch the balloon down and runs his hand along the cable to test the stress on it. It looks like the Air Commodore knew his job. He then asks the men to winch it back up and leaves. Vane tells Ludlow to arrest the Air Commodore--he is the saboteur. Ludlow hesitates for a while and then it is too late, the man is already in his car and moving away. Vane asks the crew to winch the balloon down. Wrapped around the cable near the balloon was a tape holding an acid soaked pad. The saboteur had affixed it while pretending to test the cable. Vane has to let it go for it the balloon does not break, the saboteur will wonder why. However, he attaches some plasters of his own on it. Vane does have a backup plan. The successful saboteur will be likely to try for another balloon nearby, Two in a day was a pattern Vane had observed in the past. There was another balloon at Streatham Common and Vane had seen the Air Commodore's car heading that way. Vane and Ludlow get to Streatham Common but it is almost too late as the Air Commodore is boarding his car and about to drive away. Vane manages to stop it by tossing a narcotic smoke bomb into the vehicle and the occupants are arrested. An aircraft arranged by Ludlow follows the breakaway balloon and confirms that it drifts east over the North Sea, getting lower all the time and it is then retrieved and deflated by a foreign motor boat. A few days later, there are reports of a fire at a foreign air base. Vane's plasters were a delayed action incendiary device, calculated to set the balloon ablaze when it had been retrieved and stowed among other balloons which had been previously retrieved. Characters *Dr Augustus Vane *Major Ludlow *Georgette *Air Commodore Carbrook Aircraft *An aircraft of unspecified type was assigned to follow the breakaway balloons. Ships Places Visited *Battersea *Streatham *Streatham Common *Tooting Bec Landmarks mentioned Research Notes Publication History *Collected in Dr. Vane Answers the Call, Latimer House, 1950 *Collected in Dr. Vane Answers the Call, Norman Wright, 2005 References External Links Category:Short stories Category:Dr Vane short stories Category:Adult short stories